Wyndham group buys The Resort Company in Steamboat

Steamboat Springs  The Resort Company President Bob Milne confirmed late Monday afternoon that one of Steamboat’s largest homegrown vacation rental management companies has been sold to Wyndham Vacation Rentals.

Wyndham claims to be the world’s largest vacation rental business.

The seller of The Resort Company, which began here as Steamboat Resorts in 1979 under the ownership of Steve Dawes, was Tonka Bay Equity partners, which acquired the business in 2007.

“We’ve been able to grow the business substantially in these last four years,” Milne said. “We saw this as a great opportunity.”

Milne owned the company for a decade.

In addition to managing The Lodge at Steamboat, Trailhead Lodge at Wildhorse Meadows and the Dulany in Steamboat, the company counts The Charter at Beaver Creek and BlueSky Resort in Breckendridge in its portfolio.

Milne intends to remain with The Resort Company, which is now under the same umbrella as another significant player in the local property management scene, ResortQuest. He said Resort Company and ResortQuest will continue to operate as separate brands here, but consumers will find vacation rentals by both through the Wyndham Vacation Rentals Web portal.

Milne touted the sale as good news for individual owners of condominiums managed by The Resort Company.

“As the newest member of the Wyndham family, we will leverage our relationship with this hospitality leader to provide increased value to our owners,” he predicted.

Prior to the 2010 acquisition of ResortQuest, the Wyndham brand was best known in Steamboat for another division of its company, which manages The Village at Steamboat timeshare property on Pine Grove Road.

However, Wyndham Vacation Rentals represents 87,000 vacation properties in 100 countries with a large concentration in Europe.